《先知》(The Prophet)船的来临
《先知》(The Prophet)是纪伯伦写出的最优美、最深刻的作品之一，是他诗歌创作的一个高峰。这部散文诗集对于纪伯伦，正如《吉檀迦利》之于泰戈尔，具有特殊意义。正是这部作品，给诗人带来了世界性声誉，使他当之无愧地置身于二十世纪东方乃至世界最杰出的诗人之列。
纪伯伦主张用"血"来写作，《先知》就是他用多年的心血浇灌出来的艺术花朵。据一些传记材料告诉我们，纪伯伦从青年时代起就开始酝酿这部作品了。最早的稿本是用阿拉伯文写下的，后来才改用英文。《先知》曾多次修改，在其正式出版前的五年内，作者又曾五易其稿。一个更确凿的材料证实，诗人虽然在"1918年5月6日"前已完成《先知》中的十六个章节，但剩下的部分(不足整个作品总量的一半)却又是足足用了五年时间才完成的，可见作者精雕细刻的功夫。
1920年纪伯伦曾向友人谈到创作《先知》燃起的热情，他说："这本书现在充塞了我的生命，我睡觉时梦着它，醒来时想着它，吃喝时仍是它。"1921年春，纪伯伦累倒了，但他不愿放下手头的工作，他带着《先知》的稿子去波土顿进行"治疗"。他对朋友表露心迹道：
"我怎么办呢，难道放弃写作和绘画吗，难道丢下《先知》吗?——它还是一个婴儿——是我的精神至今孕育的最好婴儿.不，我将干到底：即令我的生命随着它的结束而结束也罢!"
《先知》是一位严肃的作者以严肃的态度为严肃的读者进行严肃的思考而写下的一部严肃的作品。
在这部作品中，纪伯伦创造了一个充满挚爱和睿智的东方哲人的形象。这位东方哲人具有阿拉伯人先知的美称："艾勒一穆斯塔法"(即亚墨斯达法)。他滞留西方阿法利斯城十二载，终于盼到回归自己东方故土的日子。在他登舟乘风归去之前，向依依惜别的城民们作了情深意。长的临别赠言，并回答了他们提出的有关爱与憎、生与死、哀与乐、美与丑、情与理、罪与罚、给与取、劳与逸、善与恶等二十六个问题，这些问题几乎涉及了人类精神生活和物质生活的全部领域。
关于这位"先知"，纪伯伦说过，"他是我的第二次降生，又是我的第一次洗礼。他是使我成为一个站在太阳面前的自由人的唯一思想。这位先知，在我塑造他之前先塑造了我，在我把握他之前先把握了我，在他站在我面前向我灌输他的情趣、爱好和主张之前，已先让我跟在他后面走了千万里"。纪伯伦通过这位主人公全面阐述了自己的人生哲学和社会理想。
《先知》的基本主题是人的发展和提高，即生命如何"向着无穷前进"，如何"赤裸地无牵挂地超腾"。纪伯伦认为，人类自身有三种特性："神性"，"人性"和"不成人性"。"神性"代表了人类的明天，"人性"代表了人类的今天，"不成人性"则代表人类的昨天。"神性"就是"无穷性"，是长了"翅翼"的生命，是人类的"真我"，"大我"，是"高人"或"巨人";"不成人性"，则是"侏儒"。"神性"，"巨人"，像"海洋"，像"太阳"，是人类的"白日";"不成人性"，"侏儒"，则是人类的"黑夜"。"巨人"帮着有翼者上升，使生命能在宇宙的"大生命"中寻求扩大，臻于完美，至善;"侏儒"则教人背向太阳，面对自己的阴影，堕于睡梦的烟雾，沉沦于黑暗之中。
纪伯伦通过"先知"之口，呼唤"神性"，要人们发掘自身"未知的珍宝"，捕捉"在天空中飞翔"的"大我"。他这样昭示人类，让人们看到自己的"真我"：
你们不是幽闭在躯壳之内，也不是闭锢在房舍和田野之中。
你们的真我是住在云间，与风同游。
你们不是在日中匍匐取暖，在黑暗里钻穴求安的一只动物，
却是一件自由的物事，一个包涵大地在以太中运行的魂灵。
摆脱动物性，发扬人性，走向"神性"，获得"自由"，——这就是纪伯伦在《先知》巾为人类"升腾"规划的"神"路历程，光明大道。
为此，他要人们抛掉"祖宗的忧惧"，走出"那死人替人筑造的坟墓"，跟上"向无穷前进"的"生命大队"的行列;他要人们时时听从"爱"的召唤，把"美"当成向导，让"理性"与"热情"成为"航行的灵魂的舵与帆";他要人们去掉伪饰"面具"，摆脱"心上的桎梏与束缚"，让生命"赤裸"地站在"阳光"下和"风"里;他要人们"相信生命和生命的丰富"，无保留地"无痛"地"施与"，"带着仁爱"劳作。
纪伯伦曾经说过，他写《先知》的目的是要探讨"人与人"之间的关系。他确实这样做了，但不仅仅是探讨，而且有规范，"立法"之意。他提出了许多与传统习见相左甚至相反的观点，很值得读者仔细玩味。
例如，他谈到宗教信仰时，提出"你的日常生活，就是你的殿宇，你的宗教"，"假如你要认识上帝，就不要做一个解谜的人"，谈到两代人的关系时，指出，"你们的孩子，都不是你们的孩子。""他们虽和你们同在，却不属于你们"，"你们可以给他们爱，却不可以给他们以思想"，"你们可以荫庇他们的身体，却不能荫庇他们的灵魂"，"你们可以努力去模仿他们，却不能使他们来像你们";谈到婚姻时，提出，"彼此相爱，但不要做成爱的系链"，"快乐地 在一处舞唱，却仍让彼此静独"，"要站在一处，却不要太密逊";谈到友谊时，指出，寻找朋友并不是为了"消磨光阴"，也不是为了"填满空腹"。
在《先知》中，纪伯伦很喜欢用一种"定义式"的语句来表达自己的独特见解，给人以极为深刻的印象。例如他说"工作是眼能看见的爱";朋友是"有回答的需求"，"用爱播种、用感谢收获的田地";"美是永生揽镜自照";孩子是"从弦上发出的生命的箭矢"，等等，所有这些"定义"，都很新颖，且能触到事物的本质。
《先知》的格调高雅，意境深邃，既有深思，又有美文，还充满温馨。《先知》把读者引向生命的峰巅，让人们俯瞰世界，审视人生，又得到爱与美的陶冶.正因为如此，《先知》一问世，就引起西方的一片轰动，被当成"东方赠予西方的最美好的礼物"。正因为如此，冰心先生对它那"满含着东方气息的超妙的哲理和流利的文词"留下"极深印象"，一见到它就顿生移译之念。正因为如此，阿拉伯著名文学评论家努埃曼才把它称作"长青树"，说它"深深扎根于人类生活的土壤里，只要人类活着，这株大树就活着"。
The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
The Coming of the Ship
Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn onto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.
And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the mist.
Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.
But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:
How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.
Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?
Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.
It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.
Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.
Yet I cannot tarry longer.
The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.
Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?
A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.
And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.
Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.
And his soul cried out to them, and he said:
Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,
How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.
Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.
Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,
Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.
And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,
Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,
Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,
And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.
And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.
And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one another of the coming of the ship.
And he said to himself:
Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?
And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?
And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress?
Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?
And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?
Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?
A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?
If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unrembered seasons?
If this indeed be the hour in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.
Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,
And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.
These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid. For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.
And when he entered into the city all the people came to meet him, and they were crying out to him as with one voice.
And the elders of the city stood forth and said:
Go not yet away from us.
A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth has given us dreams to dream.
No stranger are you among us, nor a guest, but our son and our dearly beloved.
Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.
And the priests and the priestesses said unto him:
Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the years you have spent in our midst become a memory.
You have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has been a light upon our faces.
Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love, and with veils has it been veiled.
Yet now it cries aloud unto you, and would stand revealed before you.
And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
And others came also and entreated him.
But he answered them not. He only bent his head; and those who stood near saw his tears falling upon his breast.
And he and the people proceeded towards the great square before the temple.
And there came out of the sanctuary a woman whose name was Almitra. And she was a seeress.
And he looked upon her with exceeding tenderness, for it was she who had first sought and believed in him when he had been but a day in their city.
And she hailed him, saying:
Prophet of God, in quest for the uttermost, long have you searched the distances for your ship.
And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.
Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and the dwelling place of your greater desires; and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you.
Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth.
And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish.
In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep.
Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death.
And he answered,
People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving your souls?
船的来临
被选和被爱的艾勒--穆斯塔法，当代的曙光，已在奥法利斯城等候了十二年，期待着他的航船前来迎他返回自己出生的岛屿。
时值第十二载，"颐露"月的第七日，他登上没有城墙阻隔的山岗，眺望大海;他看到他的航船正从雾霭中驶来。
他的心胸豁然开朗，他的喜悦越过海面，流溢远方。他轻闭双眸，在灵魂的静默中祈祷。
当他步下山岗时，却有一阵悲哀袭来。他心中默想：
我怎能毫无愁绪、平静地告别?不，我无法离开这座城市而不负任何精神创伤。
在这城垣中，我度过了多少漫长的痛苦日子，又经历了多少漫长的孤寂夜晚;谁能够毫无眷恋地离开他的痛苦和孤寂?
我曾将那么多心灵碎片撒落于这大街小巷，我曾有那么多希望之子赤裸地穿行于这丘陵山岗，我不能没有负荷、没有痛苦地弃之而去。
今天，我不是脱去一件罩衣，而是用自己的手撕裂一层肌肤。
我留在身后的不是一种思绪。而是一颗因饥渴而甜蜜的心。
但我却无法再滞留。
那召唤一切的大海在召唤我，我必须登舟了。
因为尽管时光在夜晚燃烧，但留下却意味着冻结，被禁烟于铸模。
多么希望将这里的一切带到身边，但我怎么能够?
声音无法带走赋予它翅翼的唇舌，它只能独自寻找天空。
苍鹰不携巢禾，才能独自飞越太阳。
他行至山脚，再次面向大海，看到他的航船已驶近港湾，船头是来自故乡的水手。
于是他的灵魂向他们发出呼唤，说道：
我古老母亲的子孙，你们这弄潮的健儿，
多少次你们沉浮于我的梦境。如今你们驶入我的清醒，也就是我更深的梦境。
我已整装待发，我的希望与扬起的帆一起等待着风起。
只想再呼吸一口这宁静的气息，再回首投下深情的一瞥。
然后我就会加入到你们的中间，宛如水手在水手中间。
而你，浩渺的大海，不眠的母亲，
江河溪流推一的安宁与自由，
等这溪流再绕过一道弯，林中空地再传来一阵温偏低语，
我就会投入你的慈怀，犹如无穷之水滴融入无穷之大海。
行走间，他远远地看到男人们和妇女们离开了农田与果园，纷纷涌向城门。
他听到他们呼唤着自己的名字，在田野奔走相告航船到达的消息。
他问自己：
莫非分别的一刻也是相聚的时分?
难道我的夜晚实际是我的黎明?
我能为那些放下耕田犁体、停下酿酒转轮的人们奉献什么?
是以心灵为树，采摘累累果实与他们分享?
还是将渴望化作涌泉，倾满他们的杯盏?
是作一架强者之手可以弹拨的竖琴，还是一管他们呼吸可以穿
过我身躯的长笛?
我是个寻求寂寞的人，我在寂寞中究竟觅得了什么宝藏，使我得以自信地施与?
如果今天是收获的日子，那么我是在哪个被遗忘的季节和哪片土地上播撒的种子?
如果此刻的确是我举起明灯的时候，那灯中燃烧的并不是我点燃的焰火。
我举起的灯空虚而晦暗，
夜的守护者将为它添上油，点起火。
他用语言倾诉了这些，但还有许多未说出的话藏在心间。因为他自己也无法表达自己更深的秘密。
他回到城中，人们纷纷迎上来。他们异口同声地呼唤着他。
城中的老者趋前说道：
请不要就这样离开我们。
你一直是我们黄昏中的正午，你的青春引导我们的梦幻进入梦幻。
你并不是我们中间的陌生者，也不是过客，你是我们的儿子，我们诚挚爱戴的人。
不要让我们的眼睛因渴望见到你的面容而酸楚。
男女祭司对他说道：
请不要现在就让海浪将我们分开，让你在我们中间度过的岁月成为回忆。
你似精魂在我们之中行走，你的身影是映在我们脸上的光辉。
我们一直如此热爱着你。但我们的爱曾悄然无语，被面纱遮掩。
如今她大声呼唤你，坦然无饰地面对你。
爱直到分别的时刻，才知道自己的深度。
其他人也走上前挽留他。但他没有作答。他低首不语，身边的人看到眼泪坠落到他的胸前。
他与大家一起走向圣殿前的广场。
一位名叫艾尔梅特拉的女子迎出圣殿。她是一位女预言家。
他用无比温柔的目光看着她，因为正是她在他到达这座城市的第一天就追随他，笃信他。
她向他致贺，说道：
上帝的先知，为了寻求终极，你很久以来一直计算着你的航船的行程，
如今船只已到，你必须离去了。
你是如此深切地向往着你记忆的土地和你更大希冀之所;我们的爱不会羁绊你，我们的需要也不能滞留你。
不过，请你在离去之前对我们谈谈，为我们言说真理。
我们将把它传给我们的子孙，他们再传给他们的后代，使它永不湮灭。
你在孤独中审视过我们的白昼，在清醒中倾听过我们梦中的哭泣与欢笑。
因此现在请向我们披露我们自己，告诉我们你所知道的生与死之间的一切。
他回答道：
奥法利斯城的民众啊，除了此刻激荡于你们灵魂中的事物外，我还能说些什么呢!
